Skip to main content
Main

Timbale of Maccaronil

A baked macaroni dish shaped in a mold with a meat center.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Timbale of Maccaronil

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the macaroni

  1. Break the macaroni into very short lengths.

  2. Cook the macaroni until slightly overdone.

  3. Drain the macaroni.

  4. Dress the macaroni with butter and grated cheese.

  5. Work in 1-2 eggs, depending on the quantity of macaroni.

  6. When the macaroni is nearly cold, fill the mold.

Fill and bake

  1. Butter a plain mold.

  2. Coat the mold with bread crumbs.

  3. Press the macaroni down.

  4. Leave a hollow in the center.

  5. Place the minced meat, poultry, or game into the hollow.

  6. Fill the mold with more macaroni.

  7. Press the macaroni down firmly.

  8. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until set.

Serve

  1. Turn out and serve.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Bread + meattop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the main structure of the timbale, holding its shape when turned out.
Eggs
Bind the macaroni so it sets firmly when baked.
Butter
Adds richness and helps coat the pasta so it stays moist.
Grated cheese
Adds savory flavor and helps bind the pasta.
Minced meat, poultry, or game
Provides the savory filling at the center of the timbale.

The step that matters

Pressing the macaroni down. Firm pressing removes air pockets so the macaroni binds with the egg and holds its shape when turned out. Loose packing can cause the timbale to crumble.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Brown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMacaroni and CheeseMacaroni and Cheese102 recipesWhite BreadWhite Bread80 recipesBread OmeletteBread Omelette60 recipes